What might Saddam do, in the event of war? On August 6, 1990, I met with Tariq Aziz, who told me that Iraq reserved the right to use any weapon in its arsenal if attacked. When I met with Saddam Hussein, he was vaguer, but said he was prepared to use everything if invaded.

Two things to keep in mind. First, Saddam is a classic survivalist. In his mind, as long as he survives, the nation-state of Iraq survives; the state is embodied in him. Second, Saddam wants to survive with weapons of mass destruction. He wants to continue his efforts to dominate the region. He would like to create one single Arab state under his leadership or at least dominate the Arab world.

Can you deter him? Regime decapitation is the ultimate sanction if he uses a weapon of mass destruction or tries to embroil Israel in this conflict.

Operation Desert Fox [1998] roiled the political climate in Iraq. It weakened the pillars of the regime--tribal support and clan support. An aggressive campaign on weapons of mass destruction may have the intended or unintended consequences of leading to a coup, causing Saddam's generals to move. We may want to therefore focus on high value targets. For example, right now, when an American or allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone is "painted", we go after the air defense site, the sergeants and the corporals manning the post. Instead, we should go after the headquarters issuing the order--this affects colonels and generals.

We need to focus on global public opinion. We need to present evidence that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction, not that we are overthrowing an Arab regime because we don't like it.

I don't believe Saddam will go quietly. He will use every weapon in his arsenal, and he will cause trouble for us wherever possible.

A GREAT EMBARRASSMENT FOR JOE WILSON: Wilson appeared at this "online symposium" in Dec. 2002, 10 months after his Niger junket and just 3 months before the war ... FAR from expressing the slightest doubt about whether Saddam had WMDs, Wilson's main concern (expressed 3 times) is that if invaded Saddam would resort to 'anything' in his arsenal. Wilson SAYS "Saddam wants to survive with weapons of mass destruction." He does not even HINT that he or the CIA or anyone at all might have any reason to have doubts about Iraqi WMDs and WMD programs - his whole expressed concern is that Saddam will USE such weapons if we invade. In fact, that was an assertion that I recall seeing a few times before the war: that Saddam would not do anything with his WMDs if we left him alone, but would definitely use them if attacked.

Wilson uses phrases like "[Saddam] will use every weapon in his arsenal" (while referring to similar threats from Tariq Aziz at the time of Gulf War I) -- and anyone with the slightest familiarity with the issues would NEVER imagine that phrase refers to .....AK-47s and T-72s (the tanks which we had easily decimated in the 1st Gulf War).

Joe Wilson has made his claim to fame his supposed (non-existent) refutation of reports that Iraq had approached Niger about obtaining uranium, and Wilson has portrayed himself as standing bravely (sic) against a fraudulent case for war. Yet, here he is 3 months before the war, and his main concern is that Saddam WILL use WMDs against us if we invade. Of course, we know that Wilson's pathetic mission and oral report could not possible disprove anything anyway, and that his report of an Iraqi approach to Niger for 'trade' relations was in fact highly suggestive (since presumably Iraq was not hankering after those goats and chickpeas that form the balance of Niger's exports). Still, I find it very revealing that Wilson in Dec. 2002 (and I've also seen similar words of his in a Feb. 2003 article) is mainly concerned with his belief that Saddam WILL use WMDs against our troops.

[if you go to the link, note that the execrable Larry Johnson also participated in this online symposium, but the brief remarks printed don't say much from him - I wonder if there's a fuller transcript or tape to be found somewhere???]

"This is the Cadre that advised Clinton to launch strikes on the eve of his PERJURY. Sandy Berger Appointed Joe Wilson, Richard Clarke was an Aide to Sandy Berger

So true, so true.... We know that Berger and Wilson joined the official foreign policy team of the Kerry campaign until they were forced out by their scandals....and Rand Beers (best pal of Richard Clarke) was a key player for the Kerry team throughout the campaign.... But I'm CERTAIN that none of these characters could have collaborated on their sordid plots....if only we could know what conversations and emails have passed between Berger, Wilson, Clarke, and others who went from the Clinton team to plotting nefarious activities against the evil "neo-cons".... then there are the demagogic senators like Schroomer, Rockefeller, Kennedy, et al who trumpet every nutty tidbit discussed at their "Senate Democratic Policy Council".... and the MSM reporters like Pincus (the wife, er, I mean husband of Mandy, Hillary Clinton's best pal).... all these reporters parroting the Wilson line without bothering to do even minimal research. It's truly appalling.....

Mandy Grunwald, Hillary's best friend and MEDIA advisor, is the wife of MATT COOPER...the reporter who called Rove and Libby..to get them "involved".

You have to notice all the events floating around in the background...chiefly, the Nixon impeachment revival....via Felt coming out.

Mandy's father was Henry Grunwald, Chief op editor of Time, Inc. for many years. Henry wrote the first column saying that Nixon should resign. Henry died in February 2005...two months before Felt came out. (Remember that Woodward said that there was a "death pact" which would allow Deep Throat to come out.) AND, don't forget, Hillary worked on the Nixon impeachment, too.

This whole thing wasn't about Niger at all. It was exactly what the Dems said out loud: "Can we impeach Rove?"

"Mandy Grunwald, Hillary's best friend and MEDIA advisor, is the wife of MATT COOPER...the reporter who called Rove and Libby..to get them "involved".

Right you are, thanks! I knew that but had a momentary brain cramp.... I was thinking of that and also that the wife of Pincus was a Clintonite political appointee in the State Dept. - I think they were the ones known to attend Joe and Valerie's bar-b-q??? Anyway, it seems to be a rather incestuous bunch of libs who have launched a fraudulent campaign to distort the whole issue of Iraq and WMDs while smearing the administration....

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